The approach to landing and landing at a large airport by a helicopter is probably one of the most challenging tasks a helicopter pilot undertakes during normal operations due to the precision actions required and increased pilot workload. To perform the landing properly, the helicopter approaches a landing pad at an airport, after executing instrument approach procedures to a ATC designated target such as at or near a runway threshold, by performing an air taxi maneuver. Air taxiing is the flying of the helicopter along, and at very low altitude above the airport terrain. While air taxiing, a pilot must fly a route per clearance and avoid obstacles such as parked or taxiing aircraft and buildings and in what may be limited visibility due to weather, lack of sunlight, or positioning of the sun. In a large airport environment, the actual helicopter landing pad may be a significant distance away from the instrument approach point and may not be visible due to distance or obstructions even in day time VMC operations.
When pilots air taxi in visual meteorological conditions, it is often difficult to judge the air taxi route in three dimension space to properly arrive at the landing pad. This is more of an issue in limited visibility when the landing pad is not in sight. Given the trend of tighter path management for increased safety within terminal airspace, and congested airport environment, it is desirable to provide an intuitive pathway display that is compatible with helicopter parameters.
This is especially true when transiting to visual flight at the end of an instrument approach procedure to the airport. While flying the instrument approach, pilots are trained to monitor progress and make adjustment with reference to the flight instruments, e.g., the Flight Director (FD), the glideslope deviation scale, and the Horizontal Situation Indicator (HSI). These standard flight instruments have been designed to provide guidance cues in an accurate and unambiguous manner. During the visual segment of an instrument approach, the crew transitions from the instrument scan to visual cues in the outside environment. This transition requires the pilot to change from the abstraction of the schematic flight instruments to real world analog visual cues. These visual cues include: the apparent shape and size of the runway, the spacing and size of runway markings, and the apparent relative motion of the helicopter along the ground. An abrupt transition from instruments to visual can be disorienting.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a display system and method for assisting a helicopter pilot in performing an air taxi approach to a landing pad after performing an instrument approach to an airport. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the exemplary embodiments will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.